different between mother vs grandfather

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m?ð?(?)/, [?m?ð?(?)]
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?m?ð?/
• Rhymes: -?ð?(?)
• Hyphenation: moth?er

Etymology 1

From Middle English moder, from Old English m?dor, from Proto-Germanic *m?d?r, from Proto-Indo-European *méh?t?r. Superseded non-native Middle English mere (“mother”) borrowed from Old French mere (“mother”). Doublet of mater.

Alternative forms

• mither (Scotland and Northern England)

Noun

mother (plural mothers)

1. A (human) female who has given birth to a baby
2. A human female who parents an adopted or fostered child
3. A human female who donates a fertilized egg or donates a body cell which has resulted in a clone.
4. A pregnant female, possibly as a shortened form of mother-to-be.
   • 1991, Susan Faludi, The Undeclared War Against American Women:

     The antiabortion iconography in the last decade featured the fetus but never the mother.

5. A female parent of an animal.

6. (figuratively) A female ancestor.
   • 1525, William Tyndale, Bible, Genesis, 3, xx:

     And Ada^[Adam] called his wyfe Heua^[Eve] because she was the mother of all that lyveth

7. (figuratively) A source or origin.
   • 1606, William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 3, 1866, George Steevens (editor), The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, page 278:

     Alas, poor country: / Almost afraid to know itself! It cannot / Be call'd our mother, but our grave:

   • 1844, Thomas Arnold, Fragment on the Church, Volume 1, page 17:

     But one in the place of God and not God, is as it were a falsehood; it is the mother falsehood from which all idolatry is derived.

8. Something that is the greatest or most significant of its kind. (See mother of all.)
   • 1991, January 17, Saddam Hussein, Broadcast on Baghdad state radio.

     The great duel, the mother of all battles has begun.

9. (when followed by a surname) A title of respect for one's mother-in-law.

10. (figuratively) Any elderly woman, especially within a particular community.
11. (figuratively) Any person or entity which performs mothering.
    • Judges 5:7, KJV.

      The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.

    • Galatians 4:26, KJV.

      Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

12. The principal piece of an astrolabe, into which the others are fixed.
13. The female superior or head of a religious house; an abbess, etc.
14. (obsolete) Hysterical passion; hysteria; the uterus.
    • 1665, Robert Lovel, Pambotanologia sive Enchiridion botanicum, page 484:

      T.V. dicusseth tumors and mollifieth them, helps inflammations, rising of the mother and the epilepsie being burnt.

    • 1666, Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physitian Enlarged, page 49:

      The Root hereof taken with Zedoary and Angelic?, or without them, helps the rising of the Mother.

    • 1979, Thomas R. Forbes, The changing face of death in London, in Charles Webster (editor), Health, Medicine and Mortality in the Sixteenth Century (1979), page 128:

      St Botolph's parish records ascribed three deaths to 'mother', an old name for the uterus.

Synonyms

• (one’s female parent): See also Thesaurus:mother
• (most significant thing): father, grandfather, granddaddy
• (of or pertaining to the mother, such as metropolis): metro-

Antonyms

• (with regards to gender) father
• (with regards to ancestry) daughter, son, child, offspring

Hypernyms

• (a female parent): parent

Coordinate terms

• (a female parent): father

Related terms

Derived terms

Translations

See mother/translations § Noun.

Etymology 2

From Middle English modren, from the noun (see above).

Verb

mother (third-person singular simple present mothers, present participle mothering, simple past and past participle mothered)

1. (chiefly transitive) To give birth to or produce (as its female parent) a child. (Compare father.)
   • 1998, Nina Revoyr, The Necessary Hunger: A Novel, Macmillan (?ISBN), page 101:

     Q's sister, Debbie, had mothered two kids by the time she was twenty, with neither of the fathers in sight.

   • 2010, Lynette Joseph-Bani, The Biblical Journey of Slavery: From Egypt to the Americas, AuthorHouse (?ISBN), page 51:

     Zilpah, Leah's maid, mothered two sons for Jacob, Gad and Asher. Leah became pregnant once more and had two more sons, Issachar, and Zebulun, and a daughter, Dinah, thus Leah had seven children for Jacob.

2. (transitive) To treat as a mother would be expected to treat her child; to nurture.
   • c. 1900, O. Henry, An Adjustment of Nature

     She had seen fewer years than any of us, but she was of such superb Evehood and simplicity that she mothered us from the beginning.

Translations

References

• American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language Fourth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company 2003.

Etymology 3

Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *muþraz (“sediment”), perhaps through intermediate Middle Dutch modder (“filth, dregs”).

Noun

mother (plural mothers)

1. A stringy, mucilaginous or film- or membrane-like substance (consisting of acetobacters) which develops in fermenting alcoholic liquids (such as wine, or cider), and turns the alcohol into acetic acid with the help of oxygen from the air.

Verb

mother (third-person singular simple present mothers, present participle mothering, simple past and past participle mothered)

1. (transitive) To cause to contain mother (“that substance which develops in fermenting alcohol and turns it into vinegar”).

   mothered oil / vinegar / wine

2. (intransitive, of an alcohol) To develop mother.

Etymology 4

Clipping of motherfucker

Alternative forms

• mutha

Noun

mother (plural mothers)

1. (euphemistic, mildly vulgar, slang) Motherfucker.
2. (euphemistic, colloquial) A striking example.

Synonyms

• MF, mofo, motherfucker, mutha

Translations

Etymology 5

Coined from moth by analogy to mouser.

Pronunciation

• see moth-er

Noun

mother (plural mothers)

1. Alternative form of moth-er

References

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “mother”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

• thermo-

Middle English

Noun

mother

1. (Late Middle English) Alternative form of moder

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???æn(d)?f??ð?(r)/
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???æn?f??ð?/
• (General American) enPR: gr?nd?fä'th?r, IPA^(key): /???æn(d)?f?ð?/, [????(?)?????n(d)?f??ð?]
• Hyphenation: grand?fa?ther

Etymology 1

The noun is derived from Middle English grandfadre, graundfadir, graunfadir, grauntfader, and other forms, from graunt (“big, large; great, important”) + f??der (“male parent, father; remoter male ancestor”), probably modelled after Middle French grandpere, grant pere (“male parent; remoter male ancestor”) (whence French grand-père); the English word is analysable as grand- +? father. Superseded earlier eldfather, elderfather.

The verb is derived from the noun.

Noun

grandfather (plural grandfathers)

1. A father of someone's parent. [from 15th c.]

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:grandfather

   Antonyms: (with regard to gender) grandmother, grandchild, granddaughter, (with regard to ancestry) grandson; see also Thesaurus:grandmother
2. (by extension) A male forefather.

   Synonyms: (rare) highfather, grandsire

Hypernyms

• grandparent

Hyponyms

• (father of someone's father): paternal grandfather
• (father of someone's mother): maternal grandfather

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

grandfather (third-person singular simple present grandfathers, present participle grandfathering, simple past and past participle grandfathered)

1. (transitive) To be, or act as, a grandfather to.

Translations

Etymology 2

From grandfather clause: see grandfather (etymology 1) and clause.

Verb

grandfather (third-person singular simple present grandfathers, present participle grandfathering, simple past and past participle grandfathered)

2. (transitive, chiefly US, law) To retain discontinued laws or rules for (a thing, person or organization previously affected by them). [from 1950s]

Derived terms

• grandfathering (noun)

Translations

References

Further reading

• grandfather clause on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• grandparent on Wikipedia.Wikipedia